Rarity awoke with a shock, nervously looking around. Her head pounded sorely, making her groan in annoyance.
Spring slept soundly, the small filly mumbled quietly with a turn.

Octavia laid on the couch, with Crimson hugging her tightly, in a deep sleep of his own.

"Early bird, Miss?"
Stellar glanced at her from the window, a little fatigued from the long hours of standing. He stifled a small yawn, covering his mouth politely as he placed his gun on the table.

"Devilish ponies, they are." he cursed. "Never let an old pony like me have a rest."
Rarity chuckled a little, looking out longingly.

"Corridor's still swarming with them." the butler continued, sighing in exasperation.
"Even Princess Celestia couldn't help."

"There must be a clear reason why she doesn't." Rarity replied at the grumbling pony. "She has the heart to help everypony in Equestria."
Stellar just shook his head. "Except for here, that is. It's a policy that they shall never enter the city. Even Princess Luna agreed strongly to this."

"But why?" Rarity asked in frustration. "The past was the past! Everything can just be forgotten, swept under the rug!"

"Ah, but you see, Miss Rarity. There are some things that can leave a great scar even on the most benevolent of ponies."
"Think," Stellar asked soberly. "When your dragon friend of yours was attacked..."

Rarity froze, the dark memory of Spike started fogging in around her.
"Don't bring that up." her tone voiced sharply as she sat down on a nearby cushion, forcing the image out of her mind.

"I don't mean to pry, Miss Rarity," the butler quipped cautiously, "but you seem to really care about the dragon."

Rarity looked up, her face a mix of emotions.
"O-Of course I do... H-He's my friend."

She stopped, stunned a little as the butler chuckled.
"You both really like each other, don't you."

"Well...." Rarity's voice trailed off as she glanced around uneasily.
"He has that something, you know.... something that other ponies don't have."

"I never bothered about it when I first met him, but after I found out how ignorant Prince Blueblood is, it happened."

"Spike seemed to... how shall I put it... glow! Around my friends, around other handsome stallions. Especially after that day he gave me something... something special."
"A fire ruby! One of the most rarest, beautiful stones I've ever seen! And he was just willing to give it to me!"

"After that, I made up my mind. He was the one."
Rarity turned to Stellar, flipping her indigo mane with a flame of passion and determination raging in her azure eyes.

Stellar clapped his hooves enthusiastically as Rarity stopped short, starting to blush as realization flushed into her.
"Well said, Miss Rarity." he chuckled heartily.

Rarity giggled with embarrassment, settling herself down near Spring as she stroked the sleeping filly's mane.
"She's gorgeous, isn't she."

Stellar nodded. "One of the most innocent of the family."
"She was always the one. The one pony that can brighten up any dark day."

Rarity chuckled as the filly tossed around, mumbling a little.
"Her name suits her perfectly."

"Agreed." the other pony replied. "I helped raise her long enough to know how she is."

"When the dark days are astray, the sainthood of spring shall cleanse it away."

Rarity clapped softly as Stellar bowed.
"One of the many recitals I wrote." he said with a grin.

Rarity laughed a little. "Really?" she asked in disbelief.
"That was wonderful, Stellar."

The butler chuckled. "I planned to become a poet after retirement." he said, pacing towards the window.
"A few years, that is all."

"Well," the unicorn grinned warmly at the butler, who was looking out at the rising sun before them.
"I wish you best of luck, Sir Lionheart." she said with a wink.

Stellar nodded with a sad smile, glancing at Spring as the little filly tossed again with a gleaming smile on her sleeping face.
"If only Spring could live long enough to hear it..."

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"...and of course, there will be streamers and cakes and balloons and muffins and party hats and donuts and cakes for EVERYPONY!!"

Pinkie bounced along the path, the others following her closely behind.
"Pinkie," Rainbow giggled slightly. "you said cake twice!"

"Really?" the pink pony turned around suddenly, her smile beaming across her cheeks.
"Two cakes.... great idea!!!"

The rest chuckled at Pinkie as they reached Sugarcube Corner. The bakery dazzled brightly, looking like a colossal gingerbread house. The wooden sign with a pink cupcake swung slightly in the breeze.

The bell rang as the six of them entered. A strong whiff emanated from inside, tempting them inside as Mrs. Cake greeted them with open hooves.
"Pinkie!!" she hugged the pink pony tightly. "I'm so glad you're back!!"
Her rose eyes glittered with tears. "We all really missed you, dear."

The door opened once more, with Mr. Cake stepping in carrying a lot of empty cardboard boxes.
"Pinkie!!" he exclaimed once his eyes settled onto the pink pony.

He galloped past Twilight and Applejack, hugging her tightly with a small tear in his eye.
"I knew you'll make it. I knew you'll make it!" he kept repeating.

"I'm so HAPPY to be back!!" Pinkie exclaimed, looking at the yellow, shelved-filled walls of the bakery with glee. Her smile beamed at all the confectioneries on display as she felt her heart leap with joy.

"I can't wait to start the baking!! There will be so much things to do-"
"Whoa there, sugarcube," Applejack interrupted, stopping her in her tracks. "you're still hurt. You can't start working yet."

"Awwww, shucks..." Pinkie's face drooped slightly, frowning at her bandaged body with annoyance.

"Don't worry, Pinkie." Mrs. Cake reassured her. "Just think of it as a very long day-off!"
Mr. Cake added on. "And you can play with your friends as well!"

Pinkie's smile quickly returned, as the other ponies let out a quiet, relieved sigh.

"Oh, almost forgot!!" she suddenly exclaimed.
As if on cue, a pair of violet eyes popped from a corner. A small scampering of green feet followed as Pinkie Pie gasped in surprise.

"Gummy!! There you are!" she hugged the alligator tightly, which only responded with a raspy croak.
"Oh, wait!! I gotta get something from my room!!"

Pinkie quickly rushed up the stairs, Gummy hanging onto her tail as the rest of them watched her go.

"So, how was she today?" Mr. Cake asked Twilight.
"She's all right." the unicorn replied. "Whatever happened yesterday didn't seem to make her go over her head today."

"She burned down the barn." Applejack said with a shrug. "Ah don't blame her though. Something nasty made her do this."
Mrs. Cake nodded understandingly. "Are you alright now, Fluttershy dear?"

"I.. I'm fine." the yellow pegasus chirped.
"I wish Pinkie really is though," she continued, "I'm not sure if she is completely all right, if you know what I mean."

Twilight fumbled around. "She told me in the hospital, that I-, that we, never understood everything. About her past. Things like that."
She raised an eyebrow at the Cakes. "Do you know what she meant?"

Both ponies shook their heads.
"Not that Carrot and I know of." Mrs. Cake replied.

A loud, piercing scream burst through the room. Everypony looked at the stairwell in horror, shouting a name in unison.
"Pinkie!!"

Twilight and Rainbow rushed up, with Applejack, Fluttershy and Spike following closely behind.
"Pinkie! We're coming!!" Rainbow shouted down the hallway as all of them galloped towards a brightly lit room.

The door slammed open, as the ponies saw Pinkie cringing in fear, her eyes filled with tears. She pushed herself closer to the wall, her coat paling in horror as she started shouting:
"Go away!! GO AWAY!!"

"Pinkie!" Twilight shook her friend, ignoring the constant pushing and shoving. "Pinkie, it's just us!!"

The pink pony looked up, staring at Twilight's concerned face in shock, before crying loudly, burying her face in Twilight's hooves as the unicorn hugged her friend tightly.
"There, there, Pinkie. You're safe now."

"H-He was there...." Pinkie said between sobs, her mane turning as flat as before. Applejack looked around in confusion as Rainbow asked desperately.
"Who was there, Pinkie?"

"He's not here anymore, Pinkie." Fluttershy said, shushing at her.
"You're safe now, Pinkie.... you're safe with us."

Spike could only watch helplessly at Pinkie, who was sobbing loudly as the rest tried to comfort her.

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Winter held his gun closely as a small stream of smoke poured out from the barrel. He looked over at a light-green pony, lying motionlessly in a blood pool on the ground.

He glanced at his watch, the cracked glass glinted in the light of the morning sun as he trotted cautiously down the hallway.
The hallway was filled with the bodies of ponies, the blood leaking from them nearly unrecognizable as it soaked a deep red into the carpet. All around, glass was shattered, cracked. Black smoke poured from the gardens as Winter called out his sister's name.

A small clatter made him stop. He peered around the corner, readying his revolver.
From the corner, a black pony skidded to a halt, galloping frantically towards him.

He crashed straight into Winter, both ponies falling onto the floor.
Winter hastily helped himself up, pointing the gun straight at the other pony.

"P-Please, sir..." the other pony managed to gasp.
Winter just scoffed. "I don't have time for this!"

"No!!" the other pony shouted as Winter clicked his gun.
"There's something really important you need to know!!"

"Oh really?" the unicorn challenged as his face darkened.
"And what is it so important that I shall require to spare your life?"

"Caper," the black pony replied hastily. "We don't have much time, Sir Palgiot!"
"YOU don't have much time." the white unicorn shouted back.

Winter flipped his gun back into the holster.
"I'll see to it. After all, I'm finding somepony myself-"

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Twilight looked up at the dragon's face cynically, her eyebrow raised in suspicion.
"Really...?"

"I'm not lying this time, Twilight!" Spike replied hectically, his face in an absolute state of denial.
"I'm telling you, the Princess asked me to help Rarity!"

"Sure, sure!"
The unicorn rolled her eyes and turned back with a scornful grin as they stepped into the library. "And I'm sure she asked you to have a night out with Rarity as well."

Spike blushed a little, fidgeting his claws around as he groaned deeply in frustration.
"That's not what I meant-"

"Oh, but I thought that was what you meant the whole time!"
Twilight giggled a little, watching the dragon grappling his mind out as he replied heedlessly:

"Look." Twilight suddenly said, stopping both of them in the middle of the library.
"Even if Princess Celestia really asked you to go all the way to Pendant Lakes, I doubt she would even be willing to take you there."

"Cause it's a policy," Twilight explained, "that no Canterlot pony is allowed there."
"Which includes me."

"I know that!!" Twilight groaned. "I'm just telling you that Princess Celestia can't take you there. If she even places a single hoof in town, the whole city would go batty in a second!"

A sudden flare of light erupted from the middle of the room, slowly shifting a little as a quad of elegant hooves stepped out from the radiance.
She shook her colored array of a mane, sparkling in a shimmer of twinkles as Princess Celestia nodded in a gesture.
Twilight bowed sheepishly with a grin. "P-Princess Celestia, what a pleasant surprise!!"

The alicorn just grimaced at her.
"What Spike was involved in here was a very serious matter, Twilight. I was hoping you shall be more responsible in times like this."

"No need to apologize, Twilight." Princess Celestia said, instantly cheering up her protege.
"Right now, we need Spike over there quickly."

"But why me?" the dragon asked, slightly puzzled. "Why can't somepony else do it?"

"Number one," the Princess explained. "you are a dragon. There are things in Equestria that only a dragon can see. Not even an alicorn like me or my sister will be able to detect such faint distinctions."

"Number two, your mode of transport. The transport was always the... how should I say... picky one. Being yourself would suit him just fine."

The alicorn just smiled. "I'm sure many ponies have known about that."
"Rarity has gone through a lot these days. You never knew, but she loves you as much as you love her in return."

Twilight nodded agreeably. "When it comes to you, she becomes Pinkie Pie. She can talk about how nice you are all day without stopping!"

"Rarity would love to have you by her side, especially with everything going on over there. You can help her."
The Princess smiled, guiding him towards the door.
"Come on now, Spike. Transport is waiting outside."

The wooden door swung open as the three of them stepped outside. Everypony, especially Spike, looked to the sky in amazement, as a brilliant shadow draped over them.
A pair of black wings flapped evenly, glowing a faint midnight blue, reminiscent of Luna's mane. His equally dark scales flared up gently, as he viewed Spike with a piercing stare.

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"No, Gypsum!" Autumn groaned in annoyance as she watched her cousin dance around, a tambourine ringing in her hooves.
"Really, you need to learn proper manners. I know you really embrace our small family side with the Romani tradition and all, but you must simply behave!"

Gypsum just looked at her cousin, frowning deeply as she gloated:
"Who cares? I'm just carrying our gypsy side of the Palgiot family!"

With a ring of the tambourine, she clambered onto the tables, twirling her lace skirt around as Autumn watched in horror at her cousin.
"Come on, Autumn!" she called out, kicking a few books from beneath her bright olive hooves.
"Dance!!"

The mare just fiddled with her hooves.
"I don't do dancing. Or music, to be honest."

Gypsum gasped loudly in shock.
"Autumn dear, you really need to embrace the Romani spirit!!"

She ruffled through a giant trunk tapered completely in stickers and stamps, throwing out a few silk dresses and thick books.
Autumn gazed at her cousin, a little frantic at every material that flew from her cousin's hooves.

"There you are!" Gypsum smiled from ear to ear, gripping a black, musty record in her teeth. Her cousin looked in suspicion as she asked sourly:

"I'm glad you asked!!" she replied cheerfully, placing the record onto a nearby gramophone. "It's filled with the wondrous, harmonious, most melodic folk songs of my hometown!!"

Autumn just looked in horror as. "No! No no no no no no no-!"
"I promise, it'll be fun!" Gypsum interrupted with a wink.

Autumn sniffled, lying in the mess of books around her. She looked over to a small table, ignoring the loud gun shots from the corridor outside.

She walked towards it, eyeing closely on a dusty gramophone. Gently she blew, scattering the dust in a cloudy puff.
"Gypsum..." the dark memories of her dead cousin haunted her, as Autumn settled the needle on a black record.

A twang of guitars echoed first before being joined by a bizarre collection of fiddles and tubas. Faintly behind, the recognizable clatter of tambourines, maracas and cheers followed with the bongo beat, as a familiar voice began to sing.

"Weep not, little gypsy! You are not alone~,
Fear not, my child. You're going strong!
A life of solitude you have lived;
A forgotten heart you never retrieved."

"For we are the same.
In bond and in blood.
From Germany to Spain
With our dresses, cloaks and hoods."

A trample of fiddles joined in, as Autumn clasped her hooves in the air.
"Remember!!" Gypsum's voice echoed in her head. "Raise your hooves and do a little shake!!"

She shook her flank, laughing between her sorrow as the humming solo of a fiddle stop abruptly, making way for her cousin's voice.

"A little lie they told, as it was never more
Yet we enjoyed like colts and fillies, dancing on the forest floor.
Weep not, little gypsy. You are not alone~;
For we are the same! In blood and in bond!"

Autumn let her mane fall back down, cascading in an auburn waterfall as she giggled with joy.
She slammed a tambourine in the air, her heart leaping with the beat in delight.

"We sing, we dance, a nostalgic rain!!
We all but seek fellowship under the wings of the crane!
To find your other half, just say the word again;"

"L'amour de ma vie, L'amour de ma vie;
The other that shares the pain!"

Autumn shuddered, thinking back at her cheerful cousin, listening to Gypsum's squeaky voice as it rang out of the gramophone with a small crackle.

"L'amour de ma vie, L'amour de ma vie...!"

"The love of my life he remains..." Autumn muttered, finishing the sentence among the gleeful, rhythmic banging of bongos and tambourines.
She stopped, her dreamy twirl frozen midway as she let herself fall onto the library carpet.

Her memory faded suddenly, snapping her back into reality.
She looked out the window longingly, basking in the glow of the afternoon sun as she stepped on the books around her.

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Spike looked around in amazement, clinging tightly onto Jovern as the older dragon surfed seamlessly through the clouds.
"Whoa.... this must be the life!'

Jovern just chuckled. "You have much to learn, young one."
He glided along, his ebony scales slinking slightly with a flap of the wings.
"When you're old, you desire more the quiescence of your wings rather the exhilaration of the seemingly empyrean blue."
The black dragon sighed deeply, brushing off the wistfulness of his earlier age as he asked soberly:

Spike nodded at the dragon.
"That's where I need to go. You can take me there, can you?"

"That's good." Spike said, heaving a little sigh as he watched the enthralling sunset in the horizon.
His mind started to wander, settling his focus on a particular white unicorn.

The purple dragon blushed a little, scratching his head.
"Seems like even a dragon would know about that."

Jovern laughed heartily. "I've seen that look before once. A long, long time ago, when I stared at my reflection in a lake."
"Really?" Spike asked eagerly, a small flame of anticipation starting to stir inside him.

"Of course, young one!" the black dragon replied as clouds flutter by him, sliced in two by his wings.
"I was in love once. Never seen a finer girl in my life."

"We got married that time." he smiled widely.
"Shocking thing those days were. Marrying a mare wasn't always a recommendation."

"Not just anypony, Spike." Jovern replied, staring off into the clouds beyond.
"A mare interviewed me once. I spilled our story out for her. It became a best-selling book that I'm sure it will surface in your friend's library of hers."

"Dragonheart was its name." Jovern said. "In the book, her name was Cottonbud, a puffy, white pegasus with a bright, blue mane."

"But in real life," the dragon continued, "her name is actually Cottontail Whitemane."

"You mean the pegasus that lead five thousand ponies to stop the manticore invasion those years ago?" Spike asked.
"That battle was really rough!! Twilight told me about it a few times before."

"Cotton was a great fighter, but a shy pegasus in heart." Jovern said, his heart sinking slightly along with the sun.

"That day she left me, to seek a better place in the afterlife," the black dragon sniffled slightly, "she told me she'll be waiting. Waiting for the day I arrive, the day she'll welcome me with open hooves."

"I longed for that day. Longed for it to happen. But my duty on this world, on Equestria, is not finished."
Jovern let his wings flap, stopping himself in the sky as he finished his sentence:

"Remember this, young one. Remember that fate is never an accommodation, but a cycle in life."

"Oh, but..." the other dragon grew a little uneasy as he fiddled with the tip of his claws.
"She... She is a pony as well."

Jovern blinked in surprise as he continued his skim along the clouds.
"A pony, eh? Interesting..."
"I've met different dragons in all my life, but none such queer and similar to me as you, youngling."

Jovern just smiled reassuringly. "It's your choice to love her, of course. I will not pry into this matter."
"But I wish you the best of luck!"

The dragon's smile grew ever wider as Spike chuckled slightly.
"Uh.. thanks Sir Jovern..."

"Just call me Jovern. We are friends, not mentor and student!" he said with a grin.
"And remember, for every ounce of love you give her."

"Wow," Spike said, clapping gently in amazement. "That was really good..."
"Take it as advice, young one." Jovern replied. "An essential step forward."

The old dragon beamed with pride. "I'm very happy for you."
He steadied his black wings. "No time to waste for the love of your life!"

"L'amour de ma vie, L'amour de ma vie;
The other that gives you strife.
L'amour de ma vie, L'amour de ma vie;
The one and only love of your life"

Spike started humming along, his face lighting up brightly as he raised his claws up. Wind pecked along his scales, making it resonate a little as he let out a whistle of delight.

"L'amour de ma vie, your passion, your beauty;
In mind, blood and bond!
L'amour de ma vie, your wonder and glory;
Always beside you in the next dawn!"

Jovern lifted his wings as he did a grand twirl, with Spike clutching tightly on the dragon's back.
"Whooooooo!!" he yelled in anticipation.

"L'amour de ma vie, L'amour de ma vie;
We'll dance for a thousand and one nights!
'Cause my sweetheart, my lovely, L'amour de ma vie;"

Spike nearly stumbled, completely taken off guard as Jovern suddenly charged speedily. He felt wind blow into his face as he hung on, his claws hanging tightly on the black scales. Jovern laughed at the sight, yelling out the last sentence:

"Get ready for the ride of your life~!!"

Of Laurels & Lace

by WritingSpirit

L'amour De Ma Vie